Moanalua going to Max (Slaughter) in showdown with Punahou

Moanalua's Joshua Galeria (18) and Cole Fukumitsu (9) celebrated one of 20 kills put down by Max Slaughter (10) in a four-set win over Mililani. Photo by Steven Erler/Special to the Star-Advertiser.

For two sets, Moanalua simply overwhelmed Mililani.

For two more sets, it was Mililani clawing its way back, a few points away from sending a crucial quarterfinal match to a fifth set. No. 2 seed Moanalua wasn’t staggered for long, though, advancing to the semifinal round of the New City Nissan/HHSAA Boys Volleyball State Championships with a 25-17, 25-9, 22-25, 25-22 victory over the Trojans on Thursday night.

Na Menehune will square off against seven-time defending state champion Punahou on Friday — at Moanalua’s home court — in what could turn out to be the most raucous atmosphere of the tourney. At least in the first three rounds. OIA champion Moanalua (14-1) knows full well the history of high school volleyball in Hawaii. How it is practically ruled by the ILH’s Goliath, Punahou. How ‘Iolani and Kamehameha have been perennial powerhouses, as well.

Moanalua? The raw power and resilience are there. Max Slaughter came through, as usual, with 20 kills and 10 digs against Mililani. DiAeris McRaven, a 6-foot-5 junior, tallied 15 kills.

“We’ve been working on the lineup we had today. Earlier on, DiAeris was hitting nice attacks on the pin and we really wanted to test it against Mililani. Mililani put him in situations where typical outside hitters need to be smarter. We kind of got in trouble when he started to get on himself, but he came back the last couple of plays,” Na Menehune coach Alan Cabanting said. “He’s the kind of athlete who can hit over blocks, who can hit at a really high spot, and he doesn’t need to bring it down. There were so many openings in the first two sets, he started to get comfortable swinging down, when he got blocked once or twice, it kind of unnerved him. So, thank goodness there’s Max. The big thing is, for us to be successful moving forward, Max and DiAeris need to put away balls when we need them to put them away.”

Colby Tomita racked up five aces to lead Moanalua’s serve.

“Colby has been a spark plug. When we were down against Kalaheo, he took us on a couple of service runs. That gave us a ton of confidence to trust in him doing the serving for us,” Cabanting said.

Setter Cole Fukumitsu was busy and tidy with 38 assists.

“Cole was running some really nice play sets. Good, solid connections with our hitters, really running the offense the way I really wanted him to in the first two sets. When it became tighter, that rattled him just a little bit. In the fourth set, he came back and he came back really strong for us,” Cabanting said.

Now, Punahou.

“Ultimately, for both of us, it’s funny because we’re very similar teams in that we miss a ton of serves and hit a ton of errors, so tomorrow it’s who will take care of the serve, who can take care of the pass, and when we need it when we’re out of system, who can hit the ball in,” he said.

It’s not often any team plays a semifinal match at home, but Moanalua has its second opportunity in as many years. If there would ever be a proper time for an actual sellout, Friday would be it.

“That would be awesome. Absolutely, it helped us a ton last year against ‘Iolani when it went the distance,” Cabanting noted. “It would be a great boost of us, a ton of energy. These guys, especially, when you see them pumped up and riled up, DiAeris especially, he’s jumping higher after a good attack, after a big, gigantic cheer from the crowd. It’ll definitely be a big advantage for us.”

Division I

Match #

Date

Matchup

Time/Scores

Site

1

April 29

Hilo vs. Leilehua

Hilo 25-17, 19-25, 25-22, 25-16

Hilo

2

April 29

Kalaheo vs. Farrington

Kalh 25-14, 25-18, 25-16

Kalaheo

3

April 29

Lahainaluna vs. Mililani

Mil 25-19, 25-23, 25-10

Lahainaluna

4

April 29

Punahou vs. Castle

Pun 25-9, 25-15, 25-19

Punahou

5

May 2

(3) KS-Hawaii vs. Punahou

Pun 25-6, 25-14, 25-19

Radford

6

May 2

(2) Moanalua vs. Mililani

Moan 25-17, 25-9, 22-25, 25-22

Radford

7

May 2

(4) KS-Maui vs. Kalaheo

Kalh 25-13, 25-17, 23-25, 25-20

Moanalua

8

May 2

(1) 'Iolani vs. Hilo

Iol 25-14, 25-15, 25-23

Moanalua

9*

May 3

KS-Maui vs. Hilo

Hilo, 2-1

Radford

10*

May 3

KS-Hawaii vs. Mililani

Mil, 2-0

Radford

11

May 3

Kalaheo vs. 'Iolani

Iol 25-19, 25-7, 25-18

Moanalua

12

May 3

Punahou vs. Moanalua

Pun 22-25, 25-18, 25-19, 21-25, 15-5

Moanalua

13*

May 4

Hilo vs. Mililani

Mil 18-25, 25-21, 16-14

Blaisdell Arena

14*

May 4

Kalaheo vs. Moanalua

Kalh 25-14, 25-21

Blaisdell Arnea

15

May 4

'Iolani vs. Punahou

7 p.m.

Blaisdell Arena

* — consolation

Division II

Match #

Date

Matchup

Time/Scores

Site

1

May 2

(4) Seabury Hall vs. Makua Lani

SH 25-21, 25-18, 25-27, 25-18

St. Francis

2

May 2

(1) St. Francis vs. Nanakuli

StF 25-19, 25-13, 28-26

St. Francis

3

May 2

(2) Kapaa vs. Hawaii Prep

Kapa 25-19, 25-21, 25-19

Kalani

4

May 2

(3) Pearl City vs. University

ULS 25-21, 25-21, 25-21

Kalani

5*

May 3

Nanakuli vs. Makua Lani

ML, 2-1

Kalani

6*

May 3

Hawaii Prep vs. Pearl City

HPA, 2-0

Kalani

7

May 3

St. Francis vs. Seabury Hall

StF 23-25, 25-20, 25-14, 26-24

St. Francis

8

May 3

Kapaa vs. University

Kap 25-20, 25-19, 25-18

St. Francis

9*

May 4

Makua Lani vs. Hawaii Prep

ML 26-24, 25-20

Blaisdell Arena

10*

May 4

University vs. Seabury Hall

ULS 25-19, 24-26, 15-13

Blaisdell Arena

11

May 4

Kapaa vs. St. Francis

StF 25-23, 21-25, 25-23, 25-12

Blaisdell Arena

* — consolation

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